Abstract
This study demonstrates the need for participatory recordkee** to promote the right of children and young people placed in Swedish residential care homes to record-making, to facilitate access to a complete record of their placements. It is further through record-making that the experiences of the placed individuals can be used to inform practice and policymaking. Currently, the placed individuals’ experiences of the residential homes are captured at the discretion of the residential homeowners and the social workers. A rights-based archival and recordkee** paradigm would promote the design of records management systems with the children and the young people at the center and hence allow them to participate in the record-making processes which would give them a voice. Currently, records from the placed individuals, the residential care homeowners and the parents/guardians are sent to the municipalities through electronic and physical channels and in different formats such as SMS, audio files, and paper documents. These records are captured in the Integrated Children System (ICS), according to the guidelines of the National Board for Health and Welfare and at the discretion of the social workers. The authors therefore argue that recordkee** systems should give all the involved stakeholders a right to independently participate in the record-making or the documentation process with the placed individuals at the center. It is the totality of the captured records that should give the placed individuals a complete record of their experiences of the placements. It should be the basis upon which the quality of care is assessed and improved. Two case studies were used to access the information management environment. The placed children should have a right to access all the records captured in the recordkee** system to give them an understanding of their lives in the present and the future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Battley B (2017) Rights in records for children in out-of-home care. J Arch Rec Assoc NZ: Archi 1–2:21–40
Douglas J (2017) Origins and beyond: the ongoing evolution of archival ideas about provenance. In: MacNeil H, Eastwood T (eds) Currents of archival thinking, 2nd edn. ABC-CLIO LLC, California, pp 26–52
Evans J (2017) Setting the record straight for the rights of the child summit. Arch Manuscr 45(3):247–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/01576895.2017.1373244
Evans J, McKemmish S, Rolan G (2019) Participatory information governance: transforming recordkee** for childhood out-of-home care. Rec Manag J 29:178–193. https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-09-2018-0041
Evans J, Golding F, O’Neill C, Tropea R (2020). All I want to know is who I am: archival justice for Australian care leavers. In: Flinn A, Duff WM and Wallace D. Archives, record-kee** & social justice. https://www.routledge.com/Archives-Recordkee**-and-Social-Justice/WallaceDuff-Saucier-Flinn/p/book/9781472483881 Accessed 14th July 2023
Golding F, Lewis A, McKemmish S, Rolan G, Thorpe K (2021) Rights in records: a charter of lifelong rights in childhood recordkee** in out-of-home care for Australian and indigenous Australian children and care leavers. Int J Hum Rights 25(9):1625–1657
Grönroos I (2023) Records of neglect: the significance of archives in redress processes. Arch Sci 23:591–608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-023-09421-xAccessed29thJune2023
Heimer M, Nasman E, Palme J (2017) Vulnerable children’s rights to participation, protection, and provision: the process of defining the problem in Swedish child and family welfare. Child Fam Soc W. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12424
Höjer S, Forkby T (2011) Care for sale: the influence of new public management in child protection in Sweden. Br J Soc W 41:93–110
Hoyle V, Shepherd E, Flinn A, Lomas E (2019) Child social-care recording and the information rights of care-experienced people: a recordkee** perspective. Br J Soc W 49(7):1856–1874
Hurley C (2005) Parallel provenance (If these are your records, where are your stories?) http://www.descriptionguy.com/images/WEBSITE/parallel-provenance.pdf Accessed 25th June 2023
Huvila I (2008) Participatory archive: towards decentralized curation, radical user orientation, and broader contextualisation of records management. Arch Sci 8:15–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-008-9071-0
Iacovino L (2010) Rethinking archival, ethical and legal frameworks for records of indigenous Australian communities: a participant relationship model of rights and responsibilities. Arch Sci 10(4):353–372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-010-9120-3
Jackson R, Brady B, Forkan C, Tierney E, Kennan D (2020) Influencing policy and practice for young people in foster care: learning from a model of collective participation. Child Youth Serv Rev 113(104901):1–11
Lundström T, Sallnäs M, Shanks E (2018) Stability and change in the field of residential care for children. On ownership structure, treatment ideas and institutional logics. Nord Soc W Res 10(1):1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/2156857X.2018.1541016
MacNeil H, Wendy D, Dotiwalla A, Zuchniak K (2018) “If there are no records, there is no narrative”: the social justice impact of records of Scottish care-leavers. Arch Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-017-9283-2
Mannay D, Staples E, Hallett S, Roberts L, Rees A, Evans R, Andrews D (2019) Enabling talk and reframing messages: working creatively with care experienced children and young people to recount and re-represent their everyday experiences. Childcare Pract 25(1):51–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2018.1521375
McKemmish S, Bone J, Evans J, Golding F, Lewis A, Rolan G, Thorpe K, Wilson J (2020) Decolonizing recordkee** and archival praxis in childhood out-of-home care and indigenous archival collections. Arch Sci 20:21–49
Meagher G, Lundström T, Sallnäs M, Wiklund S (2016) Big business in a thin big business in a thin market: understanding the privatization of residential care for children and youth in Sweden. Soc Policy Adm 50(7):805–823
Merriam SB (1988) Case study research in education. A qualitative approach. Jossey-Bass Inc, San Franscisco
Murray S, Humphreys C (2014) ‘My life’s been a total disaster but I feel privileged’: care-leavers’ access to personal records and their implications for social work practice. Child Fam Soc Work 19(2):215–224. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00895
Nesmith T (2006) The concept of societal provenance and records of nineteenth-century Aboriginal-European relations in Western Canada: implications for archival theory and practice. Arch Sci 6(3–4):351–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-007-9043-9
Sallnäs M (2005) Vårdmarknad med svårigheter: om privata aktörer inom institutionsvården för barn och ungdomar. Soc Tidskrift 2–3:226–245
Monash University (2017) Setting the record straight for the rights of the child. National summit 8–9 May 2017 https://rightsrecords.it.monash.edu/. Accessed 20th Nov 2023
Shepherd E, Hoyle V, Lomas E, Flinn A, Sexton A (2020) Towards a human-centred participatory approach to child social care recordkee**. Arch Sci 20:307–325
Shepherd E, Hoyle V (2022) Good practice in recording and access to records. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/182464/1/Childrens_SB_Recording_Access_To_Records_V5.pdf. Accessed 29th June 2023
Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare) (2014). Systematisk uppföljning: beskrivning och exempel, [Systematic follow-up description and example.] pp 6-25
Staines J, Selwyn J (2020) “I wish someone would explain why I am in care”: the impact of children and young people’s lack of understanding of why they are in out-of-home care on their well-being and felt security. Child Fam Soc Work 25:97–106
Svärd P, Zimic S (2021) Information management and e-services development: the follow-up process of residential care homes for children and young people in two Swedish municipalities. In EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2021: proceedings of ongoing research, practitioners, posters, workshops, and projects of the international conference EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 91–102
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Svard, P., Zimic, S. The need for a participatory recordkee** system for children and young people placed in residential care homes: the case of Sweden. Arch Sci 24, 209–225 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-024-09437-x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-024-09437-x